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Journey towards Enlightenment

Amrita Chand

Our daily habits and patterns of interactions with the world around us are important, and proper spiritual practice begins here. Behavior and attitudes that lead to tense relations with others will impede even the most basic mental ease. A lifestyle that impairs the health of body and mind is also a serious obstruction – Excessive stress and dissipation can exhaust the body to such a point that meditation will be difficult to develop and its powers will be insufficient to bring rejuvenation and lasting benefit. It is precisely for the purpose of harmonizing our interactions with the world at large and establishing an environment that is conducive to spiritual development that some moral precepts are emphasized. Thus, every aspirant should at least receive and observe the five lay precepts:

• Not to take the life of or cause injury to other beings;
• Not to steal or take what has not been properly given;
• Not to engage in any relation that is harmful or socially unacceptable;
• Not to lie or deceive;
• Not to indulge in intoxicants.

Daily routine is also a crucial factor in spiritual practice. Meditation must become part of one’s every day life – if not the very center of it – and this condition must be maintained uninterruptedly – whenever you make distinctions, your mind is in opposition. Opposition implies a duality. A practitioner usually wants to attain enlightenment. But this creates a duality of subject and object. Or, perhaps the aspirant knows very well that he has never been separate from the Almighty! But since he has not yet experienced this unity, he seeks the Lord within himself – If you really believe there is no separation, then it is possible to practice without much opposition. But you must have faith in the fundamental unity to truly begin practicing. The emphasis of faith in mind is on practice. Many of us are practicing counting the breath – The goal of this method is to reach a unified or single – minded state. After you get to the point where there are no thoughts other than counting, eventually the counting just naturally stops. The numbers and the idea of counting the breath are gone. The only thing left is a sense of existence.

The mind is a superb instrument if used rightly. Used wrongly, however it becomes very destructive. Just because you can solve a cross word puzzle or build a palace doesn’t mean that you actually use your mind. Just as a dog lives to chew bones, the mind loves to get its teeth into problems. That’s why it does cross word puzzles and build palaces. You have no interest in either – Here the mind is using you – You are unconsciously identified with it, so you don’t even know that you are its slave, So the single most vital step on your journey toward enlightenment is this : Learn to dis-identify from your mind –

Now, how is it possible? In your daily life, you can practice this by taking any routine activity and give your fullest attention to that - be present. For example: - When you wash your hands, pay attention to all the sense perceptions associated with the activity: the sound and feel of water, the movement of your hand, the scent of the soap, and so on. Or, when you get into your car, after you close the door, pause for a few seconds and observe the flow of your breath. Become aware of a silent, but powerful sense of presence. You can measure your success in this practice through the degree of peace that you feel within.

The journey toward enlightenment is rising above thought, not falling back to a level below thought, the level of an animal or a plant – Sri Ramakrishna says that : “Pain or suffering arises through desire or craving that to be free of pain we need to cut the bonds of desire – As long as I am my mind, I am those cravings, those needs, wants, attachments, and aversions, and apart from them there is no ‘I’ except as a mere possibility. But there as the observer of the mind, be “the awakened one”. There is a story about Kabir. Kabir says,

“There was not a place left where I did not seek God – Temples, churches, pagodas all over the places I roamed around looking for God. I couldn’t find him. Finally exhausted, I said to myself, ‘so what if I cannot find God? Let me decide myself that I am a God realized person and experienced Him’. I began to live as loving, as silent, and as blissful as God – Godliness came into me of its own accord –

So, the miracle happened – suddenly I heard God calling me. ‘Oh! Kabir, oh Kabir, where are you? I am searching for you.’ Kabir said, “All along I was searching for you, Oh God, but now you are after me. I have realized the God within me and hence, I would have no more business with you.”

As Bhagwan Sri Ramakrishna says, “The bound creatures, entangled in worldliness, will not come to their senses at all. They suffer so much misery and agony, they face so many dangers, and yet they will not wake up.” So let us make the effort to become free. As a knife can’t be sharpened on a piece of velvet so be thankful if your work is a little harder than you want. Let us start a new journey towards enlightenment. Let us be mindful in developing our insight.

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